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U. S. GRANT, 




^.Cifi^or--:$'o('Mci-":^tatOiMiiaii. 



H Ulemorial Sketch. 



WITH PORTRAIT. 



CHICAGO: 

THOMAS H. BUSH AND COMPANY, 53 WEST VAN BUREN STREET. 

1885. 



Ulysses §. Qrant, 



THE CITIZEN, THE SOLDIER, THE STATESMAN. 



^ fficmoviat 



OF HIS LIFE AND HIS SERVICES TO HIS COUNTRY, FROM BOYHOOD 

TO THE EXALTED POSITION OF CHIEF MAGISTRATE 

OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE : 



TOr.BTHBtt WITH 



A FULL AND COMPLETE LIST OF THE HONORS AND SOUVENIRS BESTOWED 
UPON HIM BY OTHER NATIONS OF THE WORLD. 



ALSO, 



EXTRACTS FROM SPEECHES, LETTERS AND REVIEWS, ETC., ETC., 
CAREFULLY SELECTED AND VERIFIED. 



IPit^ portrait, 




CHICAGO: 

THOMAS H. BUSH AND COMPANY, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHER!?. 

1885. 



/- 



Entered, according to Acl of Congress, in the year 18S5, by 

Thomas H. Bush and Company, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



THOMAS H, BUSH AND COMPANY, 

PRI NTEHS, 

83 W. VAN BUREN ST. 



;*£> 



i\j^m^\ 



PAGE 

Portrait. Frontispiece 

Early Life 5 

In the Field 9 

The White House 20 

Around the World 23 

Souvenirs 29 

Extracts from Speeches and Messages 32 

Personal and Press Opinion 35 

Closing Scenes 44 



I, 

Not ])y the ball or brand 
Sped by a mortal hand , 
Not by the lighning-stroke 
When fiery tempest broke, — 
Not mid the ranks of war 
Fell the great Conqueror. 

II. 

Unmoved, undismayd, 

In the crash and carnage of the cannonade, — 

Eye that dimmed not, hand that failed not, 

Brain that swerved not, heart that quailed not, 

8teel nerve, iron form. — 

The dauntless spirit that o'erruled the storm. 

III. 

While the Hero peaceful slept 
A foeman to his chamber crept, 
Lightly to the slumberer came, 
Touched his brow and breathed his name : 
O'er the stricken form there passed 
Suddenly an icy blast. 

IV. 

The Hero woke : rose undismayd : 
Saluted Death— and sheathed his blade. 

V. 

The Conqueror of a hundred fields 

To a mightier Conqueror yields ; 

No mortal foeman' s blow 

Laid the great Soldier low ; 

Victor in his latest breath — 

Vanciuished but by death. —Francis F. Browne. 



EARL Y LIFE. 








ENERAL GRANT is dead, and a nation looks 
mournfully on the dust of him who was, but is not. 
One by one the silvered heads of the old war lead- 
ers are dropping before the scythe of the 
grim reaper, ancT in a few years, at most, their names and 
their deeds will be but a memory of the past. Of him who 
has just fallen it may well be said that he conspicuously illus- 
trated the possibilities of American citizenship. Born in a 
rank in life but a few degrees removed from poverty, he 
climbed the heights to the proud position of chief magistrate 
of the land, and leaves a name which will grow brighter with 
the growing years. 

His ancestors were of Scotch stock, and from them he un- 
doubtedly inherited that firmness of will which carried him 
vidoriously over so many hard-fought fields. He was born 
on the 27th of April, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Ohio. A year 
afterward, his parents removed to Georgetown, in the same 
State, where his boyhood was passed. At 17 he received an 
appointment to West Point, and there acquired the military 
education which fitted him for the distinguished commands he 
subsequently held. During the four years of study there he 



(i ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



was noted for his lo\-c of mathematics and riding, and his care- 
lessness in matters of dress. Not that he was at all slovenly 
in his personal appearance, but he did not always conform to 
the standard of primness which characterizes that governmen- 
tal institution. He was graduated in 1843, twenty-first in a 
class of thirtv-nine, amono;- whom were a number who after 
ward distinguished themselves in various commands on both 
sides in the war of the rebellion. 

General Grant's life of real service in the army began on 
ist of July, 1S43, when he was attached to the Fourth Infantry, 
with the rank of Brevet Second Lieutenant. At that time the 
events were ripening which brought on the Mexican war, and 
in 1845 his regiment was sent to Corpus Christi, at the mouth 
of the Nueces river, in Texas. Here the regiment became 
a part of the expeditionary force, which, under " Rough-and- 
Ready ' Zachary Taylor, inaugurated the war. There were 
numerous points of similarity in the chara6i:er of the callow 
lieutenant and the grim old warrior in command, one of which 
was that neither of them knew when he was beaten ; or, in 
other words, both possessed that stern tenacity of purpose 
which never let go its grip until the end sought was attained. 

On the 6th and 7th of May, 1846, the American forces 
mo\L'd into the twin battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
Palma. and although there is no record at hand of the bearing 
of Lieutenant Grant in these initial struggles with a superior 
force, his subsequent career affords ample evidence that he 
must have borne his share of the danger. Palo Alto and Re- 
saca gave Taylor control of the Rio Grande, across which 
stream the army moved, and in September fought the bloody 



EARLY LIFE. 



battle of Monterey, capturing the town and storming the 
bishop's palace. In this fierce contest Grant participated, and 
from it learned somethincv of what American soldiers could do 
ag-ainst the odds of numbers and formidable fortifications. 

Soon after Monterey, the fourth regiment, with other 
troops under Taylor's command, were detached to join the 
army of invasion led by General Scott, which followed the 
track of Cortez to the City of Mexico. Grant was present 
at the siege and capture of Vera Cruz, and wdien the forces 
were organized for their perilous march into the interior he 
was appointed regimental quartermaster, which post he held 
until the close of the war. As a rule the quartermaster is not 
supposed to see much of that dangerous neighborhood known 
as "the front," his duties lying mainly with the wagon-trains 
in the rear ; but this young Quartermaster Grant was an en- 
ergetic, inquisitive sort of a fellow, and whenever the firing in- 
dicated an engagement he came riding up to know w^hat was 
going on, and to take a hand in it with the other members of 
the reofimental staff. 

At Molino del Rey his gallant behavior attraded the at- 
tention oi his superior officers, and he was rewarded with a 
brevet first lieutenancy, but he declined because the casualties 
of the battle gave him his promotion to full first lieutenant. 
At Chapultepec, with a very slight opportunity for the exer- 
cise of his fertility of resource and courage, he gained from his 
regimental, brigade, and division commanders, the encomium 
of having "acquitted himself most nobly," and for the same 
adion he received the brevet of captain on the ground of 
"gallant and meritorious conduct." 



8 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 

After the close of the war he served as captain with his 
regiment at \arious points in the United States, and in Au- 
gust, 1848, he married Miss Dent a sister of his classmate at 
West Point, Frederick J. Dent. In 1852 the Fourth Regi- 
ment was ordered to Oregon, by way of the Isthmus, and 
here again, in the face of fell disease, the sterling qualities of 
the coming hero shone out as brightly as in the roar and 
crash of battle. On the passage across the isthmus the chol- 
era broke out, and made fearful ravages in the party. Beside 
the soldiers were a number of passengers who secured all avail- 
able means of transportation and moved on, leaving Grant in 
that paradise of miasma with the sick and dead. He remained 
there a week, toiling, like the hero he was, for the comfort of 
the stricken ones, directing, with fine executive ability, the af- 
fairs of the camp, and by his display of courage and determi- 
nation curbing the turbulent natives. Of the one hundred and 
fifty who composed the party, seventy-five survived the dis- 
ease, and these Grant carried through to the Pacific in safety. 

After serving with his regiment in Oregon until the sum- 
mer of 1854, ^^ resigned from the army, and established him- 
self and family on a small farm near St. Louis. This venture 
proving unprofitable, he became a money collector, and sub- 
sequently entered into the leather and saddlery business with 
his father, at Galena, Illinois. 



IN THE FIELD. 9 



ill iht j|feM. 



N 1 861 the booming of the cannon battering Fort 
Sumter echoed over the land, and a blaze of martial 
enthusiasm sprang out among the people. 
Away off in the remote city of Galena the sound came to 
the ears of the plain leather-dealer, and roused not only the 
dormant spirit of the soldier, but the righteous indignation of 
the patriot; and without a moment's delay he tendered his 
services to the government. Possessed, by his West Point 
education, of a thorough knowledge of the military art, this 
man, who afterward skillfully maneuvered 1,000,000 soldiers, 
modestly thought he had sufficient ability to command a regi- 
ment ! Raising a company in his own neighborhood, he pro- 
ceeded with it to Springfield, where, upon the recommendation 
of E. B. Washburne, then a member of congress from Illinois, 
he was appointed by Governor Yates adjutant general of the 
state. Having succeeded in the difficult task of organizing 
the state troops, he proceeded to Cincinnati for the purpose of 
securing a staff appointment under McClellan, but failed, and 
returning to Springfield he was commissioned as colonel of 
the Twenty-first Illinois infantry. Reducing the somewhat 
unruly organization to a state of admirable discipline, he 



1(1 ULVSSBS S. GRANT. 



marched them to Ouincy, which was then supposed to be in 
danger from a raid by confederates in Missouri. While on the 
line of the Mississippi river, in this vicinity, the Twenty-first 
was brigaded with other troops, and Grant, though the young- 
est colonel, was selected as commander of the brigade. In 
August he received a commission as brigadier general, and 
was assigned to the command of the "Distri6l of Southeast 
Missourri," with headquarters at Cairo, 111. This was a dis- 
trid: of the first importance in the west, and it gave the young 
brigadier an independence of a6lion which he retained in his 
various commands to the close of the war. His first move 
was the occupation of Paducah, Ky. , at the mouth of the 
Tennessee river, which gave him command of the embouchure 
of an artery leading into the vitals of the confederacy. As a 
strategic movement it gave promise of that foresight and en- 
ergy which characterized his whole subsequent career. In 
November, 1861, Grant fought the battle of Belmont, the 
initial fight of that series of contests which, beginning on the 
Mississippi, curved around through a dozen states, and closed 
in North Carolina more than three years afterward, almost 
within hearing of the surf of the Atlantic. 

The next important operation in which he engaged was 
the campaign against Forts Henry and Donelson. It is not 
necessary to go into a description of these battles, which open- 
ed up the Tennessee and the Cumberland to the Union armies; 
but the a6tion at Donelson gives us a further insight into his 
character as a soldier. When his lines had been driven back 
with fearful slaughter, and the momentum of the enemy's onset 
was exhausted, he direded a vigorous advance, and the result 



IN THE FIELD. 11 

was the surrender of the fort. This battle also afforded an 
illustration of his readiness in penetrating the the plans of his 
adversary. All the prisoners captured in the rush of the ene- 
my were found possessed of full haversacks, and his mind leaped 
instantly to the conclusion that it was the confederates' inten- 
tion to abandon the fort, and with it necessarily the long line 
of fortifications constituting- the northern defensive line of the 
confederacy in Kentucky. 

Pushing: on at once through the broken line of defense, we 
find Grant at Shiloh in the early days of April, confronting the 
confederate army of Beauregard, and Albert Sidney Johnston 
a few miles in his front at Corinth, Mississippi. Across the 
breadth of two great states he had marched, and the magnitude 
of the war had been made apparent to the country. The con- 
federacy had been almost cut asunder by his bold forward 
movement, and but the length of one state lay between him 
and the gulf 

Whole libraries have been written upon this notable battle, 
but nothing has changed the fad that it began with a surprise, 
that its first day was a monumental exhibition of the poltroon- 
ery of some and the heroic gallantry of the little band that 
confronted the confederate surge until night and Buell came, 
and that its second day saw Johnston dead and Beauregard 
staggering back to his works at Corinth. At no time in his 
career did Grant's bull-dog tenacity show so strongly as at 
the close of the first day at Shiloh. Whipped, driven back step 
by step to a last position on the bank of the river that foamed 
at his back, he coolly took a survey of the desperate situation 
and ordered an advance at daylight on the exultant enemy. 



12 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



Aficr Shiloh the great leader was under a temporary cloud 
which obscured his prospe6ls until Halleck, who assumed com- 
niand, (\\v^ liis slow way into Corinth, when Grant was again 
left at hberty to plan and work out his campaigns. With his 
eye on Vicksburg as an objective, he incidentally fought the 
battles of luka and Corinth, and was compelled to fall back 
temporarily by the capture of his base of supplies at Holly 
Si)rings, through the cowardice or incompetency of the officer 
in command at that point. 

The struggle for Vicksburg was a fine illustration of 
nearly all the features of Grant's charader which stamp 
him as a great captain. Comprehensive strategy, celerity of 
movement, combinations of times and forces, fertility of re- 
sources, indomitable persistence against apparently insur- 
mountable obstacles, recuperation from mishaps which would 
have overwhelmed an ordinary commander, all found a place 
in his movements on this "Gibraltar of America," and when 
the sun rose on that Fourth of July which witnessed Lee's 
retreat from Gettysburg, Grant was marching into a conquered 
Vicksburg, and the Mississippi ran "unvexed to the sea." 

After the fall of Vicksburg Grant's command was enlarged 
to include the departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and 
the Tennessee, which covered nine states and portions of states, 
extending from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi. In Sep- 
tember, 1862, Rosecrans was defeated at Chickamauga, and 
retired into Chattanooga, where his soldiers were starved into 
almost atmospheric thinness by the confederates who occupied 
the adjacent heights. To this beleaguered point Grant hast- 
ened with relief, not only in the form of troops, but in the 



IN THE FIELD. 13 



elements within that capacious brain which had solved the 
problem before he reached the scene of action. 

At Chattanooga Grant's strategic combinations were rap- 
idly worked out, and the battles of Lookout Mountain 
and Mission Ridge sent Bragg and his shattered army 
flying across the hills of northwestern Georgia. Thomas 
had held out, and his lean soldiers were permitted to fat- 
ten up on full rations. 

It was now the winter of 1863-4 ari<^ events were ripe for 
a campaign in the coming summer which should decide the 
whole contest. There was a feeling in the north that there 
was a prospecf of success looming up above the horizon, and 
that in order to achieve it one man should control all the 
armies. Halleck, at Washington, was a sort of major domo 
with the title of "General-in-Chief," but nobody suspected 
him of possessing the capacity required of the man who should 
guide the million soldiers of the north to permanent vi6lory. 
As pithily expressed by Grant, the various commands were 
pulling "like a balky team," and a driver was needed who 
could make them stretch the traces equally on each side. The 
only general in the service who had so far induced a belief 
among the people that he could successfully dire6l the various 
armies operating on the shrunken periphery of the confeder- 
acy was Grant, and he accordingly was called to Washington 
and invested with the necessary authority. At last he had 
gained supreme command, and it was, perhaps, fortunate for 
his fame that civilians in high office were given to understand 
that they must keep their bungling hands off while a soldier 
did the work. Three years of practical disaster in the neigh- 



14 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



borhood of Washington had wrought a remarkable conversion 

in this regard. 

In the spring of 1864 Grant, now heutenant-general, as- 
sumed command of all the armies of the United States, and 
set himself at work upon the difficult problem. 

While directing the operations of all the armies, he accom- 
panied in person the army of the Potomac, and intrusted the 
command of the principal western army to his brilliant lieuten- 
ant and friend, Gen. Sherman. A number of auxiliary armies 
were unleashed in various parts of the immense field, among 
which was that of Banks, which marched up the Red 
river to Shreveport, and skedaddled back to New Or- 
leans under its incompetent commander. Another was the 
expeditionary force of Sigel, in the Shenandoah valley, 
out of which several confederate irruptions had already 
been made into the loyal states. But Sigel was soundly 
thrashed, as was his successor. Hunter, and this back avenue 
of approach to Washington was not closed until October, 1864, 
when Sheridan, at Cedar creek and beyond, paralyzed all 
hope of successful confederate invasion on the line of the 
Shenandoah. 

A force under Gen. Butler was dispatched from Fort Mon- 
roe and Yorktown to operate on the southern and eastern ap- 
proaches to Richmond, and, if possible, steal a march into the 
confederate capital. Butler, however, ran himself into a cul 
de sac at Bermuda Hundred, and, as was neatly expressed by 
Grant in his final report, was as hermetically sealed as if 
located in a bottle tightly corked. 

The vital point of the confederacy was undoubtedly in Vir- 



IN THE FIELD. 15 



ginia, and recognizing this fa6l, Grant placed himself at the 
head of the Army of the Potomac, and inaugurated the cam- 
paign which stands without parallel in military history. His 
antagonist was Gen. Robert E. Lee, than whom the con- 
federacy produced no abler commander. Among the generals 
whom he had out-maneuvered and out-fought were McClellan, 
Pope, Burnside, and Hooker. It is true Meade had success- 
fully resisted Lee at Gettysburg, but in strategy, in tactics — 
with the one error of Pickett's charge at Gettysburg — there 
was no comparison between the two commanders. 

On the other hand, Grant had shown himself superior as a 
general to Pillow and Buckner at Donelson, to Beauregard 
and Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh, to Pemberton and Joe 
Johnston at Vicksburg and Jackson, and to Bragg at Chat- 
tanooga. There was a dramatic harmony in the decree of fate 
which brought face to face at the close of the war the two gen- 
erals who had, of all others, maintained their own against all 
opponents. 

So at the opening of the spring in 1864 we find Grant on 
the Rapidan, with a veteran army of some 120,000 men look- 
ing across that yellow stream at the confederate army, and 
planning for its destru6fion. 

It is not belittling Sherman to say that the campaign which 
that gifted commander conduced was a secondary affair to 
the titanic struggle in Virginia. The heart of the confederacy 
was in the " Old Dominion," and here the crucial test was to 
be applied. 

In pursuance of his policy of fighting the war out in this 
campaign. Grant directed his subordinate commanders to 



Iti UL YSSES S, GRANT. 



" keep the enemy in sight all the time," and this was the key- 
note of the operations of the armies. 

On the 4th of May, 1864, the Army of the Potomac moved 
to and across the Rapidan, turning Lee' s right flank. Promptly 
availing himself of the opportunity of entangling his opponent 
in the gloomy ravines of the " Wilderness," Lee struck at the 
marching column and the desperate struggle began. Two 
days of slaughter in the wilderness resulted in a drawn battle, 
and in accordance with established precedent the northern 
army should have withdrawn. On the contrary, when Grant 
discovered that the enemy had been fought to a stand-still, he 
directed the army forward into the carnage of Spottsylvania. 
This was the beginning of that series of flank movements 
which finally shut the confederate army up in Petersburg, 
from which it emerged only to surrender. 

Keeping the enemy "constantly in sight" Grant moved 
forward through the terrific campaign, flanking and fighting 
through the battles on the North Anna, Tolopotomy, and at 
Cold Harbor, until the immediate defenses of Richmond were 
reached. The desperate fighting of the confederate army at 
every point demonstrated the fact that "hammering" was 
the correct solution of the problem. In no other way could 
resistance be crushed. 

From Cold Harbor he moved south across the James, and 
drew his lines about Petersburg, where Lee was found with 
his whole force. 

In the overland campaign Grant had lost some sixty or 
eighty thousand men, and had inflicted on the enemy a loss 
of, perhaps, forty thousand. The " cat-tail " policy was being 



IN THE FIELD. 17 



worked out, and its correctness was exhibited in the thin lint^s 
with which Lee was compelled to man his fortifications. At 
this point the engineer element in the southern army was 
brought forward, and behind triple rows of abattis, chevaux de 
frise, and earthworks, where one man was equal to a dozen in 
the open field in front, Lee bade defiance to his merciless an- 
tagonist. Months of thrust and parry followed, carrying the 
siege through 1864 and into the spring months of 1865. 

In the meantime Sherman had forged across Georgia to 
sea and wheeled to the north in that magnificent march, and 
his drums and bugles were heard pealing out their loud chal- 
lenge in the forests of the Carolinas. Raids up the Shenandoah 
valley to the rear of Washington had failed to loosen Grant's 
grip on the throat of the confederacy ; propositions to super- 
sede him by Sherman and others had drawn from the silent 
soldier no word of remonstrance ; the impatient clamor of the 
populace fell on his inattentive ear, because he knew he was 
throtding the larynx of the rebellion at Petersburg, and, hav- 
ing done all that mortal man could do, he was content to abide 
the issue. Confident in his genius, grim as the King of Ter- 
rors in the execution of his plans, knowing he was right, he 
left all else to Providence and the eternal justice of the cause 
of which he was the acknowledged champion. There is hardly 
in history — except the spectacle of the blind, uncomplaining 
Belisarius — a parallel with the patience and fortitude exhibited 
by General Grant during the siege of Petersburg. On the one 
hand Sherman came marching through states as if they were 
mere townships, and the populace, without the military 
knowledge which could comprehend the whole situation. 



18 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



clamored for commensurate adion by Grant. On the other 
hand, Grant stood charged with not only the protedion of 
Washington, but the permanent overthrow of the confederate 
armies which menaced it, and in the popular view he had ac- 
complished nothing more than McClellan had accomplished 
in 1862 in his fruidess campaign against Richmond. Under 
these circumstances an ordinary commander would have 
dashed his soldiers at the impregnable fortifications and died 
as the ratdesnake dies — by heroic suicide. But Grant was ol 
a higher order of genius and patriotism. As silently as he 
bore obscuration after Shiloh, he would have endured removal 
at Petersburg, and fortunate it was for him and the country 
that Lincoln never doubted him after Vicksburg. 

The winter months of 1864-5 wore on and there was no 
emergence from the dead-lock at Petersburg, but in the public 
mind was visible a dim appreciation of the possibilities which 
might grow out of the gigantic struggle in Virginia. With 
Lee held in that terrible hug, and Sherman driving before 
him to the north the scattered resistance of the confederacy, 
men began to look forward to a time when organized rebellion 
would be crushed. ^ The plans which the great leader had 
made a year before were bearing fruit, and no one knew so 
well as the taciturn chieftain at City Point how near was the 
end. 

In the last days of March, 1865, Lee made a desperate lunge 
at the union works which hemmed him in, but the breach was 
quickly repaired, and Grant began the final movement which 
overthrew the rebellion. When he turned Lee's right flank 
at Five Forks and crumbled up that wing of the confederate 



IN THE FIELD. 19 

army, the southern commander at once evaculated Petersburg 
and Richmond and set out on the despairing race which ended 
at Appomattox. From a state of patient waiting in front of the 
confederate fortress Grant passed at once into a condition of 
tremendous a6fivity and prosecuted the merciless chase with 
an energy that never tired. 

The 9th of April came, and when the ragged remnant of 
the army of northern Virginia moved out for its last day of 
marching and fighting, they found General Grant's troops 
stretched across their line of retreat. 

It was the end. 



20 



UL YSSES S. GRANT. 





HEN the volunteer armies were disbanded, Gen- 
eral Grant established his headquarters at Wash- 
ington, and on July 25, 1866, he was commis- 
sioned by Congress General of the United States 
Army, an exalted rank created especially for him. When 
President Johnson suspended Stanton from the post of Secre- 
tary of War on the 12th of August, 1867, ^^^ appointed Gen- 
eral Grant ad interim Secretary of War, which place he filled 
until January 14 of the following year, when, the Senate hav- 
ing refused to sandion the removal of Stanton, the office re- 
verted to the latter. Grant's reticence on political matters 
was such that the country was completely in the dark as to 
his opinions, but it was well known to some of his intimate 
friends that he was a republican in principle. He was gen- 
erally looked upon, however, as the coming man, and on May 
21, 1868, he received the nomination for President at the 
hands of the Republican National Convention, in session at 
Chicago. He defeated his democratic competitor, ex-Gover- 
nor Seymour, of New York, by a decided majority, and was 
inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1869. 

The regular Republican Convention at Philadelphia, June 



THE WHITE HO USE. 21 

5th, 1872, renominated General Grant by acclamation, and 
put Henry Wilson on the ticket for Vice President. A brief 
letter of acceptance was dated June 10, in which the candidate 
for President said : " If elected in November and protected by 
a kind Providence in health and strength, I promise the same 
zeal and devotion to the good of the whole people for the fu- 
ture of my official life as shown in the past. Past experience 
may guide me in avoiding mistakes inevitable with novices in 
all professions and all occupations." He expressed the hope 
of leaving to his successor, whether at the end of that or 
another term of office, "a country at peace within its own 
borders, at peace with outside nations, with a credit at home 
and abroad, and without embarrassing questions to threaten 
its future prosperity." He received a popular majority at the 
eledion in November of 762,991, and the Eledoral votes of 
all the States except Georgia, Kentucky. Maryland, Missouri, 
Tennessee and Texas. 

The principal measure of his administration was the settle- 
ment by arbitration of the claims against England on account 
of the depredations of the confederate cruiser Alabama. Dur- 
ing his incumbency an attempt was made to secure a naval 
station for the United States on the island of San Domingo, 
but Congress refused to ratify the .purchase. Soon after the 
expiration of his last term as president he made a tour of the 
world, and was received by monarchs and people with the 
honors due to his fame as a military commander and ruler. 
On his return to America his name was pressed as a candidate 
for a third term, but he was defeated in the presidential con- 
vention of 1880, and retired to private life. Engaging in bus- 



')•) 



UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



incss in New York, his name was brought prominently before 
the public through the rascality of his partners, but the old 
hero's fome was unsmirched. A short time before his death 
he was retired on full pay as general of the army, as a reward 
for the distinguished services he had rendered his country ; 
and going down into the dark valley the last words that came 
to his dulled ears were those of his grateful countrymen — 
"Well done, good and faithful servant." 



AROUND THE WORLD. 23 





RESIDENT GRANT'S last term of public service 

expired March 4, 1877. For sixteen years he had 

been incessantly engrossed with military or national 

^ affairs, and with extreme relief he laid aside 



his weighty responsibilities. To gratify a long-cherished wish 
he decided to seek relaxation in foreign travel. After being- 
accorded high honors at various cities, he sailed from Phila- 
delphia on May 17, accompanied by Mrs. Grant and their son 
Jesse. At the moment of his departure he received a telegram 
from President Hayes wishing him safety and good fortune. 
He closed his reply by saying that he "hoped to return to his 
country to find it prosperous in business, and with cordial 
feelings renewed between all sections." The vessel upon 
which he sailed was escorted to deep water by a flotilla ot 
steamers and sailing craft, many of the most distinguished 
men of the nation being on board. On May 23, Secretary of 
State Evarts isued a circular letter to the diplomatic officers ot 
the United States in every part of the world, notifying them 
of General Grant's departure, and requesting them to show 
him ' ' that attention and consideration which is due from every 
officer of the government to a citizen of the republic so signally 



24 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 

disting-uished both in official service and personal renown." 

On May 27 the vessel arrived in Oueenstown harbor, where 
a delegation of Irish crentlemen came on board and welcomed 
General Grant to Ireland with the most sincere cordiality. 

He was welcomed to the shores of England by the mayor 
of Liverpool, who declared himself proud of the privilege of 
extending hospitalities to " so distinguished a citizen of the 
United States. ' ' Wherever he halted public receptions were 
tendered him, and every evidence of respect and esteem were 
manifested. 

After receiving many exceptional honors, the ex-president 
and his family were invited by Queen Victoria to visit Wind- 
sor castle. They arrived there on the 26th of June, and were 
welcomed by the queen and her court in a becoming manner. 
After visiting many points of interest in London and vicinity. 
General Grant and family took a run over to Belgium. 

The municipal and military authorities of Ostend congratu- 
lated him on his arrival, and at the king's command a special 
train awaited to convey him to Brussels. At that city he was 
called upon at his hotel by the king. At Geneva he officiated 
in laying the corner stone of the American Episcopal church, 
in compliance with a request to that effect, assisted by the 
vice president of the council of state of Switzerland. A visit 
to Mont Blanc succeeded, which was illuminated in honor of 
the occasion, and the wonderful scenes of that grand moun- 
tain region were viewed to unusual advantage. The party 
then crossing the Simplon pass, made a tour of the northern 
part of Italy. On the 31st of August they reached Edinburgh 
and were received by the lord provost. In the Free Assembly 



AROUND THE WORLD. 25 



hall, in the presence of thousands, the general was presented 
with the freedom of the city. Subsequently he visited all the 
interesting places in and about that beautiful metropolis. He 
strolled through those parts of town that have become familiar 
to all readers of Scott's prose and poetry, as well as visited 
the castle and Holyrood palace, meeting many distinguished 
military men and noted civilians. An excursion followed to 
Dundee, Tayport, Melrose, and Abbotsford. On Sept. 4 the 
general was the guest of the duke of Sutherland at his stately 
home near Dunrobin; and at Castle Grant was the guest of the 
earl of Seafield, the traditional head of the Scottish clan of 
Grant. After a visit to the home of Burns, the general was 
the guest of the duke Argyll at Inverary castle, and formed a 
great friendship for that humane and intelligent nobleman. 
The general visited the home of Shakspeare, and other his- 
toric scenes, and then set out for Paris. He was welcomed by 
President MacMahon. His reception was extremely cordial. 
The marshal greeted him as a comrade and a fellow-soldier, 
and the interview was so pleasant that many subsequent and 
informal ones occurred. After sojourning a month at the 
French capital and visiting its many objects of grandeur, the 
distinguished tourists set out for the south of France, and on 
Dec. 17 cast anchor in the beautiful bay of Naples. An ascent 
of Mount Vesuvius and an excursion to Pompeii having been 
accomplished and many attentions having been extended by 
the Italian authorities, a voyage was made to Palermo. He 
passed Christmas day on board the Vandalia, and the crews 
of German and English ships loudly cheered him as they sailed 
by. After various delightful wanderings along the shores of the 



26 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



Mediterranean, the Nile was ascended, and on Jan. 5. 1878, 
the tourists arrived at Alexandria, Egypt. At Cairo the 
khedive placed a palace at their disposal, and omitted nothing 
to render their stay in his dominions a bright page in the 
annals of their lengthy journey. After doing the sights of 
Egypt thoroughly, the Holy land was next visited. The an- 
cient town of Jaffa was decorated in their honor, and at Jeru- 
salem a formal reception awaited them. On the 5th of March 
they reached Constantinople, where the sultan vied with pre- 
ceeding rulers in tendering graceful hospitalities. Greece, 
Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan successively gratified 
their curiosity. Everywhere honors were freely accorded, 
much in the manner that had characterized their arrival at 
other scenes. The opening of the Paris exhibition on May 11 
found Gen. Grant among the dignitaries present, after which 
he made a tour of Holland, and thence proceeded to Berlin, 
where he met Prince Bismarck. "Glad to welcome President 
Grant to Germany," exclaimed the famous chancellor, shaking 
his hand cordially. "There is no incident in my German 
tour," replied Grant, "that is more interesting to me than 
meeting Prince Bismarck." Grant remarked to a friend : "I 
am glad I have seen Bismarck. He is a man whose manner 
and bearing fully justify the opinions one forms of him." 
During the stay of the party in Berlin many public demon- 
strations took place in their honor. 

Fully satiated with European scenes and excitements, they 
passed through the Suez canal and enjoyed a prosperous voy- 
age to Calcutta viewing the glories of the orient under pecul- 
iarly advantageous circumstances. At Rangoon, the princi- 



AROUND THE WORLD. 27 



pal city of Burmah, two British men-of-war were found riding 
at anchor with yards manned and decorations displayed. The 
official reception was novel and magnificent. After visiting 
the Golden Pagoda and other renowed localities, the ex-pre- 
sident and his family sailed dire6l for Hong Kong. On June 14 
they reached the city of Pekin. The general was immediately 
waited upon by the members of the Chinese cabinet in a body, 
accompanied by the military and civil governors of the miv- 
nicipality. The emperor being a child of 7 years. Prince Kung, 
the prince regent of the empire and brother of the late em- 
peror, dispatched a deputation to invite Gen. Grant to an 
audience. The following afternoon was named. Attended by 
a party of friends the general appeared at the palace. Prince 
Kung awaited with his ministers and saluted his guest in Tartar 
fashion by looking at him for a moment with an earnest, curious 
gaze, as though he had formed an ideal of some kind and was 
anxious to see how far it was realized. He had evidently ex- 
pected a person in gaudy .uniform with a lion-like air ; but in- 
stead found a self-possessed, middle-aged gentleman in even- 
ing dress. A great feast soon followed. At every point in 
China he visited he was the recipient of most courteous atten- 
tions. Arriving at Yokohama, Japan, on the 3d of July, a 
remarkable pageant was presented in the harbor. Vessels of 
war from almost every civilized nation flung their bunting to 
the breeze and volleys of artillery rent the air. An imperial 
barge conveyed the party to the shore, and they were received 
by the princes, ministers, and high officials of the empire. A 
special train was in readiness, and in an hour they reached the 
city of Tokio, the capital, where a palace was assigned for 



UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



their occupancy. With a refinement of courtesy, the Japanese 
had timed his arrival at Yokohama on the 3d of July, in order 
that Gen. Grant might be received by the emperor on the 
anniversary of American independence. Bands played the 
national airs of the United States. At the audience that fol- 
lowed the emperor shook hands with the general, an honor 
heretofore unknown to the ancient customs of the empire. 
The empress and Mrs. Grant also exchanged compliments in a 
formal manner. After most enjoyable experiences in Japan, 
Gen. Grant and family sailed from Yokohama to San Fran- 
cisco on the 2d of September, 1879. 



SOUVENIRS. 



9f) 



i0iitteiiir^. 




HE following is a list of the various mementos 
of the military and official career of General 
Grant, together with the addresses and objects of 
value and art presented to the General 
during his triumphal trip around the world : 

Mexican onyx cabinet, presented by the people of Pueblo, Mexico. 

Aerolite, part of which passed over Mexico in 1871. 

Bronze vases, presented by the Japanese citizens of Yokohama, Japan. 

Marble bust and pedestal, presented by workingmen of Philadelphia. 

"Gen. Grant and Family," painted by Coggswell. 

Large elephant tusks, presented by the king of Siam. 

Small elephant tusks, from the maharajah of Jehore. 

Picture of Gen. Scott (by Page), presented by the City of New York. 

Crackleware bowls (very old), presented by Prince Koohn, of China. 

Chinese porcelain jars (old), presented by Li Hung Chang. 

Arabian bible and Coptic bible, presented by Lord Napier, who captured them 
with King Theodore, of Abyssinia. 

Sporting rifle and sword of Donelson, presented to Gen. Grant after the fall of 
Fort Donelson by officers of the amy, and used by him until the end of the war 

New York sword, voted to Gen. Grant by the citizens of New York, at the fair 
held in New York. 

Sword of Chattanooga, presented to Gen, Grant by the citizens of Jo Daviess 
county. Galena, 111., after the battle of Chattanooga. 

Roman mug and pitcher, silver menu and card, farewell dinner at San Fran- 
cisco, Cal. 

Silver menu, Paris dinner. 

Horn and silver snuff" box and silver match box used by Gen. Grant. 



80 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



Gilt tii))l(.'. inofU'lcd after the table in Mr. McClean's house, in which Gen. R. E. 
J.,ce sifrncd tJie articles of surrender. This was presented to Gen. Grant by ex-con- 
fcderate soldiers. 

CJold cipir case (enameled), presented by the celestial king of Siani. 

(iilt cij^'ar case (plain), presented by the second king of Siam. 

Gilt-handled knife, presented by the miners of Idaho territory. 

Nine pieces of Jade stone, presented by Prince Koohn, of China. 

Silver trowel, used by Gen. Grant in the laying of the corner-stone of the Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural History. 

Knife, made at Shetlield, England for Gen. Grant. . 

Embroidered pictures, cock and hen, presented to Gen. Grant by citizens of 
.hii>an. 

Field-glasses, iised by Gen. Grant during the war. 

Iron-headed cane, made from the rebel ram Merrimac. 

Silver-headed cane, made out of wood used in the defense of Fort Sumter. 

Gold-headed cane, made out of wood from old Fort Duquesne, Pa. 

Gold-headed cane, presented to Gen. Grant as a tribute of regard for his humane 
treatment of the soldiers and kind consideration of those who ministered to the sick 
and woiuided during the war. 

(; old-headed cane, used by Lafayette, and presented to Gen. Grant by the ladies 
of Baltimore, Md. 

Carved-wood cane, from the estate of Sir Walter Scott. 

Uniform of general of the United States army. 

Fifteen buttons, cut from coats worn during the war. 

Hat ornament used at Belmont. 

Hat ornament, used at Fort Donelson. 

Shoulder-strap (brigadier-general's), cut from the coat used by Gen. Grant in the 
campaigns against Richmond and Petersburg and Lee's army. 

Shoulder-strap (lieutenant-general's), cut from Gen. Grant's coat. 

Pair of gilt straps, cut from the coat of Gen. Grant, used after the war. 

Medal from the American congress (gold), for the opening of the Mississippi. 

Gilt medal, from Pliiladelphia. 

Badges, army and corps. 

Twenty-one medals, gilt and silver, and ten medals, silver and brass, sent to 
(ren. Cirant at different times. 

Fourteen medals, in memory of events. 

Silk paper, Louisville Commercial, printed for Gen. Grant. 

Silk Daily Chronicle and Burlington Hawkeye, printed for Gen. Grant. 

Collection of .Japanese coins. This is the only complete set, except one, which 
is in the Japanese treasury. The value of this set is $5,000. Presented by the gov- 
ernor of Japan. 

All the military commissions of Gen. Grant. 



SOUVENIRS. 31 



Commission as honorary member M. L. A. of San Francisco. 

Commission as member of Sacramento Society of Pioneers. 

Commission as member of the Royal Historical society. 

Commission as member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. 

Commission as member of the Aztec chib. 

Certificate of election as president of the United States of America. 

Certificate of Re-election. 

Certificate as honorary member of the Territorial Pioneers of California. 

Certificate as honorary member of St. Andrew's society. 

Certificate of election as LL. D. of Harvard College. 

Certificate as honorary member of the Sacramento Society of the Pioneers of 
California 

Certificate as honorary member of the Mercantile library of San Francisco. 

The freedom of cities in England, Ireland, Scotland, including London, Edin- 
burgh, Glasgow, and Dublin, and other parts of the world. 

Addresses to Gen. Grant from various chambers of commerce and worlvingmen's 
societies all over the world. 

Resolutions of the Territorial Pioneers admitting Gen. Grant to membership. 

Resolutions of the Caledonian club, of San Francisco, admitting Gen. Grant as 
honorary member. 

Resolutions of the citizens of Jo Daviess county in presenting to Gen. Grant the 
sword of Chattanooga. 

Resolutions of the Washington camp, of Brooklyn, L. I. 

Resolutions embodying the first thanks of the congress of the United States. 

Resolutions inviting Gen. Grant to visit the house of representatives of the 
commonwealth of the state of Pennsylvania. 

Resolutions embodying the second thanks of the congress of the United States. 

Letter from the citizens of Jersey City thanking Gen. Grant for his Des Moines 
(Iowa) speech on the question of the public schools. 

Resolutions at the presentation of the silver medal by the Union League club. 
of Philadelphia, for gallantry and distinguished services. 

Resolutions accompanying the vote of thanks by congress to Gen. Grant. 

Other resolutions and addresses presented to Gen Grant on his receiving the 
freedom of the city. 



32 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



£xl:rcBct5 fVam #^^if iflties # J^H^agE^^. 



I 



There are many men who would have done far better than I did under the 
circuinstances in which I found myself during the war. If I had never held com- 
mand ; if I had fallen ; if all our generals had fallen, there were 10,000 behind us 
who would have done our work just as well, who would have followed the contest 
to the end and never surrendered the union. Therefore, it is a mistake and a reflec- 
tion upon the people to attribute to me, or to any number of us who held high com- 
mands, the salvation of the union. We did our work as well as we could, and so 
did hundreds of thousands of others. We deserved no credit for it, for we should 
have been unworthy of our country and of the American name if we had not made 
every sacrifice to save the union. — Speech at Hamburg. 

When one gets to see the nations of the world he begins to appreciate the ines- 
timable value of our broad acres and the great energy of our people. It affords me 
very great satisfaction and pleasure to receive the gentlemen who were, long ago, 
opposed to us, and I hope if this country ever sees another war Ave shall all be to- 
gether, under one flag, fighting a common enemy.— To Confederate Soldiers at San 
Francisco. 

We will not deny to any of those who fought against us any privileges which Ave 
claim for ourselves ; on the contrary, Ave Avelconie all such Avho come forAvard in 
good faith to help build up the waste places, and to perpetuate our institutions as 
brothers in full interest with us in a common heritage ; but Ave are not prepared to 
apologize for the part we took in the wkr.— Speech at Des Moines, 1875. 

With the expression of a desire to see a speedy healing of all bitterness of feel- 
ing betAveen sections, i)arties, or races of citizens, and the time when the title citi- 
zen carries Avith it all the protection and privileges to the humblest that it does to 
the most exalted, I subscribe myself, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
U. S. Grant.— Letter of Acceptance, 1872. 

Let us all labor to add all needful guaranties for the more perfect security of 
free thought, free speech, and free press, pure morals, unfettered religious senti- 
ments, and of equal rights and privileges to all men, irrespective of nationality, 
color, or religion.— >>frc/t at Des Moines. 



EXTRACTS. * 33 



The present system of appointments does not secure the best men, and often not 
even fit men for public place. The elevation and purification of the civil service of 
the government will be hailed with approval by the whole people of the country.— 
^Second Annual Message, 1870. 

What saved the union was the coming forward of the young men of the nation- 
They came from their homes and fields, as they did in time of the revolution, giving 
everything to the country. To their devotion we owe the salvation of the union.— 
Speech at Hamburg. 

The humblest soldier who carried a musket is entitled to as much credit for the 
results of the war as those who were in command. So long as our young men are 
animated by this spirit there will be no fear for the union.— Speech at Hamburg. 

I, Ulysses S. Grant, call attention to the act of congress and direct that no re- 
duction be made in the wages paid to workingmen and mechanics on account 
of the reduction of the hours of labor. — Proclamation, Mag 11, 1872. 

It is my conviction that the civilized world is tending toward government by the 
people through their chosen representatives, and that our own great republic is 
destined to be the guiding star to all others. — Second Inaugural. 

A piire, untrammeled ballot, where every man entitled to cast a vote may do so, 
just once, at each election, without fear of molestation, or proscription on account 
of his political faith, nativity, or color. — Second Annual Message. 

Although a soldier by education and profession, I have never felt any fondness 
for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace. — Heply to the 
Lord Mayor of London. 

I call your attention to one abuse of long standing which I would like to see 
remedied by this congress. It is a reform in the civil service of the country. — Second 
Message, 1870. 

A nation that cannot give protection to the life, property, and all guaranteed 
civil rights of the citizen is a failure. — Letter on South Carolina Affairs, July 26, 1876. 

When education is generally diffused we may feel assured of the permanency 
and perpetuity of our institutions.— .Sjjc^'c/i at Oakland. 

The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us a free 
nation. — Speech at Des Moines, November, 1875. 

We are a republic whereof one man is as good as another before the law. — Sixth 
Annual Message. 



Among the many writings of the dead General during his 
long illness the following remarkable document had been kept 



84 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 

religiously secret by Dr. Douglas until July 26, when he con- 
sented to its publication, explaining- that General Grant wrote 
it in his presence on Thursday, July 2. 

I ask you not to show this to any one, unless to the physicians you consult with, 
\nUil the oiul. Particularly I want it kept from my family. If known to one man 
the pajters will get it. It would only distress them almost beyond endurance to 
know it, and by reflex would distress me. I have not changed my mind materially 
since I wrote you before in the same strain. Now, however, I know that I gain 
strength some days, but when I do go back it is beyond wliere I started to improve. 
I think the chances are very decidedly in favor of your being able to keep me alive 
until the change of weather toward winter. Of course there are contingencies that 
might arise at any time that would carry me off very suddenly. The most probable 
of those is choking. Under the circumstances life is worth the living. I am very 
thankful (for "thankful" "glad" was written, but scratched out and "thankful" 
substituted) to have been spared this long, because it has enabled me to practically 
complete the work in which I take so much interest. I cannot stir up strength 
enough to renew it and make additions and subtractions that would suggest them- 
selves to me, and are not likely to suggest themselves to any one else. Under the 
aljove circumstances I will be the happiest the most pain I can avoid. If there is to 
Ije any extraordinary cure, as some people believe there is to be, it will develop 
itself. 1 would say, therefore, to you and your colleagues, to make me as comfort- 
able as you can. If it is within God's providence that I should go now, I am ready 
to obey His call without a murmur. I should prefer going now to enduring my 
l>resent suifering for a single day without hope of recovery. As I have stated, I am 
thankful for the providential extension of my time to enable me to continue my 
work. I am further thankful, and in a greater degree thankful, because it has en- 
a]>led me to see for myself the happy harmony which has so suddenly sprung up 
Ix-tween those engaged but a few years ago in deadly conflict. It has been an in- 
estimable blessing to me to hear the kind expressions toward me in person from all 
parts of our country ; from people of all nationalities, of all religions and of no re- 
ligion ; of Con federates and national troops alike; of soldiers' organizations; of 
mechanical, scientilic, religious and other societies, embracing almost every citizen 
in the land. They have brought joy to my heart, if they have not eflfected a cure. 
So, to you and your colleagues, I acknowledge my indebtedness for having brought 
me through the valley of the shadow of death to enable me to witness these things. 

Mount McGregor, x\. Y., July 2, 1885. U. S. GRANT. 



PERSONAL AND PRESS OPINION. 35 




James G. Blaine, in his "Twenty Years in Congress," thus 
speaks of General Grant : 

He had entered the service with no factitious advantages, and his promotion 
from the first to the last had been based on merit alone— without the aid of political 
influence, without the interposition of personal friends. Criticism of military skill 
is but idle chatter in the face of an unbroken career of victory, and Gen. Grant's 
campaigns have varied in their reqiurenaents, and, but for the fertility of his re- 
sourses and his unbending will, might often havcTesulted in disaster. Courage is as 
contagious as fear, and Gen. Grant possessed in the highest degree that faculty which 
is essential to all great commanders— the laculty of imparting throughcnit the rank 
and file of his army the same determination to win with which he was always him- 
self inspired. One peculiarity of General Grant's military career was his constant 
readiness to fight. He wished for no long periods of preparation ; lost no opportu- 
nity which promptness could turn to advantage. He always accepted, without cavil 
or question, the position to which he might be assigned. He never troubled the 
War department with requests or complaints, and when injustice was inflicted upon 
him he submitted silently and did a soldier's duty. Self control is the first requisite 
for him who seeks to control others. In that indispensable form of mental discipline 
General (^rant exhibited perfection. When he was appointed Lieutenant General 
and placed in command of all the armies of the union he exercised military control 
over a greater number of men than any other general since the invention of firearms. 
In the campaigns of 1S(V1 and 1S65 the armies of the union contained in the aggre- 
gate not less than a million of men. The movements of all the vast forces were kept 
in harmony by General Grant's comprehensive mind, and in the grand consumma- 
tion, which insured union and liberty, his name became inseparably associated with 
the true glory of his country. 

I wish to do simple justice to General Grant when I 
say that his adion toward my army is without a parallel 



3G UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



in the annals of nations. When my poor soldiers, with fam- 
ished faces, having neither food nor raiment, hungry and foot- 
sore, came before liim in the hour of surrender, it was then 
that General Grant gave the humane order that forty thousand 
rations should be given to them. And that was not all. I 
was giving orders to one of my subordinate officers, who was 
making out a list of the things to be surrendered, and told 
him to include the horses. At that very moment General 
Grant, who seemed to be paying no attention to what was 
going on, quickly rose from the camp-stool and said : "No, 
no, General Lee, no surrender of the horses. Not one, not 
one. Keep them all. Your poor people will need them for 
the spring crops." It was a scene never to be forgotten. 
There was much in Napoleon to awaken admiration, but his 
humanity was not to be compared to Grant's. Napoleon's 
chief glory was glory, mere glory. Grant's action is distin- 
guished by his simplicity and strong sense of duty. Napoleon 
did not hesitate to sacrifice thousands of lives for his own per- 
sonal gratification. General Grant seems to be a man of self 
abnegation, having no end in view but the safety of the cause 
he detends. The courage of Napoleon cannot maintain a 
minute's comparison with the calm heroism and sublime mag- 
nanimity exhibited by General Grant toward my troops and 
myself There is one thing about General Grant which I have 
noticed as peculiar to himself He never complains of adverse 
and unmanageable circumstances, but seizes the materials as 
they are presented and masters \}[\^m.— Ge^ieral R. E. Lee. 



PERSONAL AND PRESS OPINION 37 

To the litany of suffering and sorrow which in his last sad 
experience he was called to repeat, came from North and 
South and East and West the prayerful, tearful, sympa- 
thetic response. And as it came the cloud was lifted, and 
back again into his life came the brightness of hope, and 
confidence, and joy in God. Out of the fierce furnace 
fires came fortli the pure gold of his marvelous chara6ler. 
The clouds gathered about him as clouds about a post- 
meridian sun, seeming almost to obscure its glory, but shot 
through and through with its inextinguishable splendor, they 
became royal retainers, flaming with crimson and gold, to ac- 
company it on its triumphal departure. So the clouds 
changed about him before his full-orbed descent below life's 
line. Great while living, he was greater while dying. The 
peoples' gratitude and admiration to him while in health 
deepened into warmest love during these last painful months. 
"Go, then, illustrious commander, comrade, brother, to thy 
rest and thy reward. Thou hast fought the good fight, thou 
run thy course, thou hast kept the faith ; go, then, and re- 
ceive the crown which God the righteous Judge will place 
upon thee. — Bishop Eallozvs, at Lake Bluff, July 26. 

He was very kind of heart, and it always deeply pained 
him to be charged with unfeelingness. "They call me a 
butcher," he said to me once, "but do you know, sometimes 
I could hardly bring myself to give an order of battle? When 
I contemplated the death and misery sure to follow, I stood 
appalled." It was only devotion to duty that enabled him to 
overcome his natural tenderness of heart. His love for the 



38 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



comrades who stood with him in battle was deep and far-reach- 
ing. He used to receive hundreds of letters from old soldiers 
asking for aid, and none were ever slighted. Soldiers wor- 
shipped him. As to this latter point, while I was looking af- 
ter the Grant retirement bill, nothing touched me so much in 
connedion with that matter as the thousands of letters I re- 
ceived from maimed soldiers in all parts of the country, south 
as well as north, thanking me for my part in the work. — Satn- 
2tcl J. Randall. 

r 

That R. E. Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans with pro- 
found sorrow and sincere regret receive the announcement of 
the death of Ulysses S. Grant ; that the people of Virginia 
will ever revere and cherish the memory of Ulysses S. Grant 
as an American soldier and citizen ; that the people of the 
South, and especially the people of Virginia, will always hold 
in grateful memory his uniform and unvarying kindliness of 
purpose toward this people, and the constancy with which he 
maintained the inviolability of the parole which he had grant- 
ed to General Robert E. Lee and his soldiers at the termina- 
tion of the late civil strife. — Resolutio7i adopted at Richmond, 
Va., July 2S, '8s. 

I am not here to speak for General Grant. No man with 
his consent has ever mentioned his name in connexion with 
any position. I say what I know to be true when I allege 
that every promotion he has received since he first entered 
the service was moved without his knowledge or consent. 
He admonishes me now that he has been highly honored al- 



PERSONAL AND PRESS OPINION 39 



ready by the government, and does not ask or desire anything 
more in the shape of honors or promotion. — Washburne, in 
the House, March 2, 1864. 

You are Washington's legitimate successor, and occupy a 
position of ahiiost dangerous elevation ; but if you continue, 
as heretofore, to be yourself — simple, honest and unpretend- 
ing — you will enjoy through life the love and respect of 
friends and the homage of millions, who will award you a large 
share in securing to them and their descendants a government 
of law and stability. — Sherman to Grant, March, 1864. 

To Major-Gen. Grant : I do not remember that you and 
I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowl- 
edgment of the almost inestimable service you have done the 
country. — Abraham Liyicoln, July ij, i86j. 

His work had been perfe6led. Few men, soldiers or states- 
men, have ever seen so complete a finish made of their labors. 
Not only had he completed all the public duties to which he 
had been assigned by his countrymen, both in the field and in 
the cabinet, but he had written a history of his wars, which, 
however much its conclusions may be questioned, or even its 
statements challenged, must always remain the most valuable 
contribution to history that any adlor on either side could by 
any possibility have made. — Cificinnati Post. 

The silent, imperturbable, undramatic man who quietly 
bided his time ; patient, unhasting, observant ; making his 



40 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



dispositions and completing his preparations with so httle of 
demonstration, with so much of reticence, that not seldom his 
friends were only less surprised than the foe when the denoue- 
ment came. Only the truly great can fully comprehend and 
appreciate greatness. But even Lincoln himself wrote, "I 
now wish to make the personal acknowledgment that you 
were right and I was wrong." — Chicago News. 

The character of General Grant was the most transparent 
of any of our eminent Americans. No man since Washington 
has been less moved than he by personal ambition. No citizen 
has been more thoroughly and unselfishly a patriot. Like 
Washington, he did his duty because it was his nature, almost 
his religion to do so. General Grant was incapable of deceit, 
or envy, or malice, or uncharitableness. — Bostoii Herald. 

In the death of General Grant the country loses Its most 
illustrious citizen and the world one of its most distinguished 
soldiers. He was a man single of purpose, incapable of deceit 
and so warm in his friendships that nothing turned him from 
them. The work which occupied the closing hours of his life 
gave him an opportunity to display a fortitude higher than the 
courage of the battle-field. — St. Louis Republicayi. 

He lived long enough to witness the waning of old animos- 
ities, and to find himself the center of a regard which knew 
no sedional or party limitations. His fame is secure, and his 
monument is the Union which he helped to preserve. — Boston 
Journal. 



PERSONAL AND PRESS OPINION 41 



Taking him all in all, from his boyhood to his declining- 
years, he was an American of whom all Americans might well 
be proud. He was brave and generous and faithful. He never 
turned his back on either friend or foe. His services were 
great. There were great honors conferred upon him, and now 
that he is no more all his countrymen, North, South, East 
and West, mourn him. — Galveston News. 

In our opinion, not only is his " One of the few immortal 
names that were not born to die," but his is one of the still 
fewer names that are entitled to immortality upon earth. He 
is not only one of the immortals, but he is one of them by 
right. He was an Agamemnon — a "King of Men." — Rich- 
7no7id Gazette. 

Brethren of the North and South, let us join mournful 
hands together around that newly-opened grave, remembering 
that while all earthly goods are evanescent, honor, truth and 
love are eternally secure. — New Orleaiis Picayune - 

The name of General Grant will be remembered by Ameri- 
cans as that of the savior of their country in a crisis more ap- 
palling than any it has passed through since the United States 
became a nation. — New York Times. 

The foremost man of the nation has closed a career second 
to no other in the history of the republic. The faults of others 
which he shouldered through life, fall from him at the grave. 
— Nezv York Tribu7ie. 



42 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



No man since Lincoln in our time and Washington in a 
former epoch will be so deeply mourned. — Sayi Frayicisco Call. 

He was the radiant produd of American civilization — ours 
to love, honor, and imitate. — San Francisco Post. 



A view of General Grant's participation in the unfortunate 
business complication in New York is given below : 

There are a good many things about this Wall street affair that are not generally 
known. As a matter of fact, General Grant thought that he was simply a special 
partner to the extent of $50,000 with Ward. To a friend who warned the general 
that Ward's scheme was visionary, and that no business could yield such profits as 
Avere promised, Grant repeated that he was liable only to the extent of the amount 
mentioned, and added: "There are able and experienced business men who are 
engaged with Ward. They would not be likely to take part in any foolish scheme. 
Ward has a smelting-machine in Colorado, too, that yields large protits." It was 
discovered, afterwards, that the smelting enterprise was a mytli, and the monthly 
accounts rendered with regularity were manufactured in Ward's office. The hold 
that Ward got upon General (irant was so absolute as to seem almost incredible. He 
robbed not only the general but the general's family and relatives as well. When 
the crash came the Grants had been so completely bled that they had less than $100 
in cash among them. General Grant has been subjected to a good deal of criticism 
on the supposition that he willingly went to Vanderbilt, knowing that his firm was 
on the eve of failure, and borrowed $150,000 from him. The facts, as given to me by 
an intimate friend of the general, are these : Ward, the Sunday preceding the fail- 
ure, told the general that the firm had $750,000 on deposit in Fish's Marine Bank ; 
that he had $150,000 in his pocket and wished the general to raise $150,000 more, so 
that the fh-m would have on deposit altogether $1,000,000. "Thus," Ward reasoned, 
"the bank can make a strong showing, as they very much desire to do, and as they 
have always been very kind to us I wish to oblige them." The general did not ap- 



PERSONAL AND PRESS OPINION 43 

predate all this, nevertheless, he drove first to Victor Newcombe's house to get the 
money. Mr. Xewcombe was at church. The general then drove over to the resi- 
dence of Mr. Randall, father-in-law of Commodore Garrison, but Mr. Randall also 
was out, and General Grant drove back home. After that Ward suggested a visit to 
Mr. Vanderbilt. "I do not wish to borrow any money of Mr. Vanderbilt," said the 
general. " I have had no business transactions with him." "But it is not borrow- 
ing," continued Ward. "You will simply exchange checks with him, and, as we 
have three-quarters of a million on deposit your check will be just the same as cash, 
will it not?" This seemed altogether plausible, and it was thus deceived that the 
general called on Vanderbilt for the money. When the failure came he was almost 
dazed, and then began the agony of mind that never left him. Fortunately he had 
insisted on securing Mr. Vanderbilt. To the minds of those who know the general 
well his trust in Ward to the very last was not surprising, no matter how incompre- 
hensible it may be to others. Implicit and unshakable faith in those in whom he 
put his confidence was one of the striking notes of his character, and to have his 
trust betrayed always grieved him deeply. Indeed, a gentleman once asked him 
what of all things pained him most. The general answered : " To be deceived by a 
friend."— Phikuleljjhki Times. 



44 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 



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<~~«r^ FTER many weary months of painful suffering and 
heroic struggle with a fatal malady, death achieved 
a brilliant victory and the soul of a mighty warrior 
was at peace. As the morning sun strug- 
gled vainly through the heavy mists which overhung the 
now historic mountain in New York, a grief-stricken fam- 
ily were gathered around the death-bed of one of the grandest 
characters in American history. At precisely eight o'clock 
and nine minutes, on Thursday, July 23d, 1885, in the modest 
little cottage on Mount McGregor, surrounded by those whom 
he had loved, and amid the tears of wife and children. General 
Ulysses S. Grant passed peacefully out upon the boundless 
sea of eternity. A heart that never quailed before mortal foe 
was still, an iron will was broken, and a hero and a statesman 
lay cold in death. Death could hardly come to any man in 
form freer from terror than it came to him. All who were 
dearest to him were at his side. His hand was fast clasped in 
that of his faithful wife ; his daughter looked over her moth- 
er's shoulder into his face, and his brow was gently pressed 
by the hand of his oldest son, Frederick, who through all the 
painful months of the illness had been devotedly at the suffer- 



CLOSING SCENES. 45 

ers's side. His three physicians stood a little back from the 
family group. Harrison Tyrrell, his devoted body servant, 
leaned dejectedly against the door, and Henry, the nurse, sat 
in a distant corner. The little grandchildren had not been 
called, and were fast asleep in their beds. It was nine minutes 
past eight by the clock. Not a leaf stirred on the trees, in the 
warm morning air without, and there was not a cloud in the 
sky. A splash of red midsummer sunlight came in through 
the open window, and had been falling full upon a portrait of 
kindly-faced Lincoln which hung on the wall just over the 
bedstead, and side by side with one of the dying man himself, 
and it was just as the last of this warm light crept from the 
frame of the picture to the wall that the great man ceased to 
breathe. 

At that moment Dr. Newman arrived. He had been has- 
tily summoned, and only got to the bedside at the final mo- 
ment. It was Dr. Shrady who first spoke after the soul had 
taken its flight. Seeing the fluttering breath had ceased to 
come, he bent his head and said, "At last." Dr. Douglas — 
haggard-worn with anxiety — chokingly murmured, "All is 
over." There was a silence for several moments, broken oc- 
casionally by a subdued sob, as the family bent their heads 
with handkerchiefs to their eyes. There were no excessive 
demonstrations of grief The event had been so long hanging 
over the heads of all as inevitable that its advent was calmly 
received. None who had witnessed the dead man's long ag- 
ony could wish to see it hopelessly prolonged. Of all, none 
was calmer than Mrs. Grant, though it was feared she would 
be most prostrated. She wept but litde, and soon raised her 



46 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 

head and walked quietly, escorted by Dr. Newman, to the 
sofa. Then the physicians and the family crept one by one 
from the room; and the end of Grant's brave struggle for life 
had indeed come at last. 

The General's death was through sheer exhaustion. Dr. 
Shradv had said some weeks before that there would come a 
time when the General would be unable longer to take nour- 
ishment, and that the end would then be near at hand. The 
General had reached that point two days before, and from that 
time on went steadily down, with no hope of saving him. The 
moments he was conscious during this last relapse he knew 
that death was ne-ar, but he did not fear it in the least. He 
had not in fact from the first showed any fear of death, his 
only apprehension having been that the end would be accom- 
panied by extreme pain. His doctor assured him that he 
should not suffer, and thereby took measures that he did not. 
His dissolution was absolutely painless. From midnight until 
the moment of his death he never made a motion, except in 
opening his eyes and in now and then faintly stirring his lips 
when moisture was applied to them. 



The news of the sad event was received in all parts of the 
country with profound sorrow, bells being tolled, flags hung 
at half mast, and the emblems of mourning displayed from 
public and private buildings. President Cleveland issued a 
proclamation testifying to the magnitude of the national loss, 
and ordering the payment of appropriate honors to the mem- 
ory of the deceased by the several departments of the govern- 
ment. The Georgia legislature passed resolutions of regret 



CLOSING SCENES. 47 



and at once adjourned for the day, and similar action was 
taken by many municipal bodies, commercial organizations, 
etc., in all sections. 

The room in which the body lay temporarily was 20 ft. by 16, 
with doors opening from the end and the side on to the veran- 
da, the openings north and east. On the floor a pearl-gray 
carpet, a few easy chairs of cane, an etching of Millet's " An- 
gelus ' ' on one wall, and a rough water-color on the other. In 
the northwest corner of the room, a few feet from each wall, 
stood a catafolque, its frame of dark wood underneath its can- 
opy of black broadcloth, a cofhn over which the American flag 
was laid, the union at the head of the bier. An undertaker's 
assistant drew away the flag and the face of the great chieftain 
was revealed. Some oak leaves surrounded his head, on the 
foot of the coffin some sprigs of green held by smilax formed a 
quaintly shaped letter " G," but by these symbols the eye was 
held only a moment, and turned to the face of the dead. There 
was a tinge of color in the cheeks ; certainly they were not so 
white* as the forehead and temples. The sparse gray hair was 
combed back, the beard trimmed closely and evenly around, 
and the mousta:he, longer and carefully trimmed at the ends, 
drooped over the firm mouth, in life so silent, but now silent 
indeed and forever. There was no suggestion of pain ; noth- 
ing was conveyed by whatsoever of expression there was on 
that calm face but peace. Sleep could not dispose the features 
of its finest-minded subject as those were. The eyebds were 
drawn over the eyes, and the flesh-color was lifelike, and the 
lines from their corners, so well known in life, were gone. 



^. 



48 UL YSSES S. GRANT. 

There was no suggestion of weariness, only that of rest. 
The casket is of oak, and hned with copper. The covering 
a dark shade of purple silk velvet, and the lining a cream sat- 
in, tufted with a cream-satin pillow to match. The casket is 
open its full length, with plate-glass top, the handles extension 
bars of solid silver, to run the full length of the casket. The 
inscription-plate is of solid gold, six inches long by four inch- 
es wide, and contains only the name, "U. S. Grant." At the 
burial the casket will be encased in a red cedar box, polished 
and lined with lead. This will be sealed hermetically and put 
into an oval shaped steel box, which will be riveted together. 



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